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Monday, 11 January 2016

A sit down with Kutlwano Ditsele.

South African Television can be praised for its quality for local content. With the rise of incredulous and sometimes mind numbing International entertainment, it is comforting to know that there are shows that remain true to storytelling. The Bomb Shelter, Television's A-Team brought us legendary drama Yizo Yizo and recently Isibaya, Ayeye and The Road have always been consistent in their ability to tell stories and connect with the viewer.

So I had a sit down with the Casting Director, Producer and the Future of the Bomb Shelter Kutlwano Ditsele. An open and nice human being tells me of his life, Bomb and dreams of being President of Africa's biggest film studio.

Nthabiseng Mosiene:

How colorful was your childhood?

Kutlwano Ditsele:

Very colorful, it has a big influence
obviously in who I am. One of my assets is that I know how to network, I know
how to build my networks because I started doing it when I was younger. We
moved around quite a bit. I was born in Rustenburg. By the time was eighteen
years old we had moved fourteen times, I went through three primary schools all
very different. I started at a very rural primary school in the mountains in
the North-West. That was Grade one and Grade two. We later move to Mondeor just
after freedom, a suburb in the South of Johannesburg. It was right before the
first Democratic Election’s took place and I encountered quite a couple of racist
young kids. Moving around helped me to get to know people and study people.

NM:

What did you do that set you apart from
other kids?

KD:

When I think about it while other kids
were collecting toys I was collecting video tapes, in my mother’s house and grandmother’s
house, I just always had movies. Everybody knew to buy me gifts they would buy
films.

NM:

That actually sparks a memory, would
you record shows on TV over the tapes and label them?

KD:

I’d record and over record and
re-record, like I know you could record 3 movies before the video tape starts
looking bad. All of those things, I have always been interested in film.

NM:

You took that further and decided to
study the craft which led to International Interests.

KD:

Yes, Film school was available in
the country but at the time I kind of
felt like to learn and be the best at making films I would have to go where the
best is and that was in America, in Los-Angeles. That’s where they have a full
on Industry, so that is where the Interest to study at New York Film Academy
came in.

NM:

That Interests
me, I can imagine the thought or even the idea to study filmmaking overseas
back then hardly came into people’s heads let alone entertain the process, how
did you do it?

KD:

I wasn’t there for too long, trust me
when you find out the fees you can’t be there too long. I studied filmmaking,
for two years. I don’t really remember theory work. I got there on a Monday and
on Friday we were filming. In my first 8 weeks I made 8 films of my own and worked
on 40 in total. In class you have a group, there are 5 of us and we all have to
work on every person’s film.

NM:

Since then have you gone back to the
USA? Did you stay a little after you had graduated?

KD:

I didn’t and I have not gone back. I
came home and hit the ground running non-stop. I made a lot of friends, good
friends.

NM:

So you graduated and came back home.

KD:

I did, and I thought I was a super star, I
thought I would shoot the next great film when I was 21. Little did I know it
would be difficult. My year after film school was the hardest, I was unemployed
and I tried so many things. All I knew was film school and I wanted to break
that film school barrier. So 2008, I was flat broke and had nothing going on
for myself. In the latter part of 2008, I came to visit my aunt here in Cape
Town, everything happens for me in Cape Town actually. I went to the beach
feeling sorry for myself, and true story I saw Robben Island and I had an
epiphany. I had thoughts running through my head like with the history we have
and all opportunities given me, how could I sit there and feel sorry for
myself? So the next day I took a flight back home to Joburg, with a changed
attitude and because my attitude changed everything else changed around me. Mama
Yvonne Chaka Chaka, called me and said there was a show and they were going to interview
her and told me to go with her and follow the crew and see what would come from
it. I remember waking up at eleven in the morning every day and on that
particular morning I had to be up five in the morning. Negative thoughts
started creeping into my head, I felt like it was useless, it won’t make a
difference to my life so I went back to sleep. Within 3 minutes of hitting the snooze button,
I heard a voice speaking to me, I felt if I did not get up, opportunity would
not come as they had for me, I was pushed. So I got up and got ready. I trace
that morning to my journey with Bomb.

NM:

Which really is the place to be, so
that was where the door of opportunity came for you.

KD:

Oh for sure. Before stepping foot at
Bomb I was interning for the show that Loyiso Mangena was producing and
presenting that had done the segment with Mama Yvonne. I was a Camera
Assistant. While learning, the ego and pride left very quickly and I remember
the guys not liking me very much because I would say I will make it big. My ego
was my best friend and my enemy at that time.

NM:

I am very curious on how you got into
the The Bomb Shelter family.

KD:

On one of the episodes, they had
Thembi Seete and she had said she worked with Teboho Mahlatsi of Bomb
Productions so we were scheduled to go there and interview him. So there I was carrying
bags, going into Bomb. Seeing all the Yizo Yizo images and I just had this
overwhelming feeling of I need to be here. So we sat down with Teboho I
remember being told not to speak to him, I ignored that and I spoke to him I
told him about my studies. He gave me his card and I actually never used it, it
just wasn’t the right time. So fast forward, another episode we shot was with
David Kau, he also took a liking to me and suggested I join him when he shoots
films. So hung out with David a lot and one of the films we were going to do,
Teboho was going to direct. That is where we rekindled our friendship. Our
friendship was great because we represented the opposite of each other, I represented
to him the young energy he had and the passion I possessed, for me he
represented where I want to be one day so it was quite good synergy. So I
started hanging around bomb and him, generally having a good time. Desiree
Markgraaff would see this young man hang around the office so at some point I
knew I would get asked not to come back because I was this dead weight at Bomb
but they did not know they would later fall in love with me. I needed to soak
up Information as much as possible. They were quite intrigued by my curiosity.
One day a Casting Director was fired at Bomb, they kept saying they needed a
casting director and I said I could do it even though I had no clue how it
worked but I needed a job and money so I was eager. I had no idea what I was
getting into. The first person I had to cast after Terry Pheto, made a decision
not to do TV anymore and she was with zone 14. They had to find a replacement
for her. I learnt a lot along the way, I still feel I don’t get it right, I
would call agents and tell them I need this and that, I didn’t write briefs and
I’d tell them what I want. I often made a lot of people upset!

NM:

Bomb pretty much is TV royalty. I
often think that many shows on TV that really have left a dent to the South African
viewer would mostly likely come from Bomb, and one would not really know that.
Yizo Yizo for instance was an explosion, it was fearless, and it got tongues
wagging. The history that Bomb holds within South Africa entertainment is
Incredible. How do you feel being a part of such a world-class company and being
with prolific filmmakers, Angus Gibson, Teboho Mahlatsi and Desiree Markgraaff?
You are a Casting Director and Producer so where do you see yourself going
within or outside of The Bomb Shelter?

KD:

I am blessed to have been mentored by
the partners of bomb over the years. I have spent a full year with Tebogo and the
rest of the years it expanded to Angus and Desiree building me. What makes Bomb
different is that it has a particular DNA to its TV, when you turn on the
channel there is a particular aesthetic to a Bomb show and you know it is a
Bomb show you don’t have to watch for longer than five minutes, you just know. They
have kept me close to that DNA. I’ve just turned thirty, I am still young and .
as I grow older I get better. Maybe one day I will be at the head of bomb or be
the head of my own production company. For now I am a student.

NM:

It’s a constant working on your craft
isn’t it?

KD:

Always, my natural Instinct is to
continue learning and growing, I am not scared to ask questions. I have no
arrogance, no ego. That is why they fell in love with me in the beginning. I’m
blessed because I get to work with people who are better than me because I am
always learning. I literally see Angus and Desiree get better and better at
what they do with each production and I am a smart guy so I get smarter too.

NM:

So this is what I am curious about.
How do they conceptualize such ‘ethnic’ story lines, stories that really speak
to a specific audience or group of people? How have they been able to strike
such chords?

KD:

You can tell any story as long as you are
interested in it. When you are interested in something you research and dig
into the story, you could tell a Kung-Fu film if you really want to tell, you
don’t have to be Chinese to tell the tale. You will study it till you are
confident. You have to remain interested.
Angus probably has the widest knowledge of black history in South Africa. He is
the one they called and said he will be the one to tell Nelson Mandela’s story
when he was released from prison. He got an Oscar nomination for it. 20 years
before Isibaya he did a project where he passed through the Tugela ferry and he
remembered there was a bridge that divided between valleys and there were big
wars so he took that and made it a taxi war between two different families, one
in the east and the other in the west and that was the premise of Isibaya. It
was life experience. With Yizo Yizo he spent a lot of time in the townships and
saw what was going on in the school’s and he thought there was a story that
could be told, there were people’s lives that mattered and needed to be told.
All of these stories are personal to us in some way.

NM:

Ayeye is personal to you.

KD:

Yes, Ayeye was mine and my friend’s life story.
This is how we are, how our challenges are. We don’t represent the majority of
South Africa where people are unemployed and don’t have opportunity. Nobody was
telling a story of people who had opportunity and that is what Ayeye is about.
It’s telling the narrative of young people who live wild and have fun, they are
the kids who benefitted from Mandela’s dream.

NM:

I don’t know if reception was what
you thought it would be, from what I see within local content, it certainly was
not what South African viewers watched generally and could immediately
recognize. What was reception like for you, what had you been anticipating when
it was broadcasted?

KD:

It was a show that was made for the
viewer that was not consuming South African television. They were watching
House of Cards, Entourage and Breaking Bad. All the shows they could see
themselves in. Sex and the City, a lot of these girls could see themselves in
it. I lived it, I know that I am that person. I am of a particular demographic,
a particular market. The show was something I could relate to. We certainly
pushed the boundaries with language, sex and nudity and put it on prime time.

NM:

Director’s you look up to and admire?

KD:

Without question; Tebogo Malope, Teboho
Mahlatsi, Angus Gibson and Earnest Nkosi, Roli Nikiwe, Thabang Moleya, Keith
Rose. 3 of these 7 are at Bomb. Really these are people I admire and feel are
the truth to filmmaking. They want to change
the landscape of South African filmmaking and they are not afraid to do so.

NM:

In knowing what you know now, what
can you impart as words of wisdom, experience that you can only encounter with
time. I like to ask his question because it is very necessary and the reality
needs to be known.

KD:

And the reality is that it is really
hard. Find a team that you want to work with. I am so close with my team that I
go on holiday with them. Be your particular filmmaker find your voice. Don’t
compromise. Everybody has a particular narrative that they have inside them.
Stick to your voice, sure it’s okay to adapt a little but don’t compromise
otherwise you will be telling the same story as the next filmmaker,
regurgitating each other’s tales and nothing will stand out about you.

NM:

What is your story?

KD:

I am still finding my voice, I like
to put it this way, if I were to be an existing director in Hollywood, I would
be one of the Scott brothers. I want to make epic blockbusters, American
Gangster, Shaka Zulu, Gladiator films. I want to tell stories that push the
envelope and are epic and grand.

NM:

I am a curious being, I am curious
about the people who make what we see on TV and the Silver Screen. The whole
Idea of sitting down with people such as yourself is to learn and impart. When
your journey comes to an end what is it that you want people to know about you
and when people mention your name what words should be said about you?

KD:

So I always say to people that my
glass is always half. Half full, half empty. I know for sure there is water in
it. So I know for sure that I am a filmmaker and I know for sure there is
another side that is empty. Even though now I know that filmmaking is all I
want to do, there is possibility that in 30 years’ time I could be doing
something that is not film related at all. The country may turn and filmmaking may
not have space in South Africa, I don’t know you never know. I may become the
Minister of Arts and culture or head of a broadcaster, you never know where
your journey could go but at this particular moment, all I am all I want to be
is a filmmaker. My biggest dream, my ultimate dream is to be the President of
the biggest film studio in Africa aged 65. I want to build it myself. I want
the industry to be an industry because right now it is not.

NM:

Do you see yourself as a global
influencer?

KD:

I want to tell the African story. My
Hollywood dream is to make South African blockbusters that will compete with
Hollywood blockbusters. I want them to say ‘damn, the Superman film would’ve
done great if it had not been for that damn South African film’. I want to be
neck and neck with Jerry Bruckheimer.